A Guide to St. Louis, Missouri Naturalization Records

This webpage is designed to help find naturalization records for St. Louis, Missouri. It is divided into two main sections, before and after 1906. The records created prior to Sept. 27, 1906 offer minimal information about the applicant. After that date much more information is given.

St. Louis Naturalization Records Before Sept. 27, 1906...

Naturalizations in the city of St. Louis were generally done in either the St. Louis Circuit Court or a related court (in the Civil Courts building), or the Federal Courts (U.S. District Court and U.S. Circuit Court). If your ancestor was Naturalized prior to Sept. 27, 1906 he probably went to the St. Louis Circuit Court (or a related court in the same building). There are online and microfilmed indexes available for naturalization records for the St. Louis Circuit Court in this time frame...

Using this index requires membership in the St. Louis Genealogical Society.

Microfilmed Index:

For the St. Louis Circuit Court the LDS Family History Library (FamilySearch) in Salt Lake City has an alphabetical St. Louis Naturalization index on 17 rolls of microfilm covering 1840-1916. (Most are prior to Sept. 27, 1906). You may order these microfilm rolls from many local Family History Centers for viewing and photocopying for a fee. The information provided by this index (and the corresponding online index above) generally includes: name, date of the record, former country of allegiance, and volume and page number of the original record. The original records usually contain this same information without much additional detail. Click on the link below for microfilm roll numbers and details... Naturalization Index Cards, 1840-1916 on Microfilm

Pre-1906 Naturalizations Done in Federal Courts
NARA's Kansas City, Missouri branch has a small index of St. Louis naturalizations done in federal courts. If you find someone in this index then you should contact them for copies of the records.

Declaration of Intention Records (before Sept. 27, 1906)Surviving St. Louis Circuit Court declarations are indexed in the online indexes listed above. Many St. Louis Declaration of Intention records in this time period have not survived.

A small number of declarations of intention were done in the Federal U.S. District and U.S. Circuit Courts. These have been indexed online here...

U.S. District Court Declarations of Intention, 2 April 1890-26 September 1906

U.S. Circuit Court Declarations of Intention, 26 September 1853-26 July 1904

St. Louis Naturalization Records on Microfilm
The Family History Library (FamilySearch) also has microfilmed copies of many St. Louis naturalization records. You can find what material they have at the links below. Note: the two groups may have inter-mixed records (city and county) so you may need to check both.

St. Louis Naturalization Records After Sept. 26, 1906...

The U.S. District Court naturalization records formerly kept at the Federal Courts Building (at 12th and Market, across the street from the Civil Courts Building) have been moved to the Kansas City, Missouri branch of the National Archives (NARA). They have these records through 1991.

Contact...

NARA Kansas City Branch
Tell them you are looking for a St. Louis Naturalization record from Record Group 21 (Records of the District Courts of the United States/Missouri, Eastern District). Provide as much information as you know: name, date of birth, date of declaration of intention (if known), date of naturalization (if known). There will be a fee for this service. The online indexes listed below may be helpful. Some of these records may also be available on microfilm from the St. Louis County Library or the Family History Library (FamilySearch). See the links listed in the microfilm section above.